Pages

Monday, December 14, 2015

My credit card number was stolen. How junky is that?

Saturday afternoon, I pulled up my email to check on Adam and my hotel reservation for the night. We were at an out-of-town wedding for a very good friend of mine, and I wanted to check on the address of where we'd be staying that evening.

Except do you know what was in my inbox?

An email from my credit card company alerting me about a charge that I had not made.

Panic! Panic! Panic!

"Are you okay?" Adam asked me, as my eyes grew big and the color from my face vanished over the $600+ transaction.

"Not okay," I whispered back. "My card has been compromised."

"Ugh, I'm sorry," he replied sympathetically. "We still have twenty minutes until the start of mass. Why don't you try calling real fast?"

I hurriedly made my way outside and fumbled around with my phone. My hands were shaking, and I couldn't even think straight because I was so frazzled.

After approximately five to seven minutes of bumbling around, I came back into the church and conceded to handle the matter after the marriage ceremony.

I was much too distracted and anxious! Was the crook charging Louboutins to my account? A Burberry trench? A car?

Gah! My friend was about to get married!

My mind swirled and whirled.

Anyways.

Following the absolutely beautiful ceremony (my friend was such a bombshell, and the mass made me ugly cry more than once), I was able to get ahold of the company and talk to a representative.

She was sympathetic and also made me feel better knowing that this sort of thing happens quite a lot. It was the perfect mixture of "Poor you!" and "You're not alone in this!"

I wanted to be simultaneously pitied and assured I hadn't been singled out in some terrible way.

We froze my account, and I ordered a new card.

The worst part though was that I couldn't dispute the charge until it had actually been applied to my account since it was off hanging out in Pending Land.

So, of course, I watched that charge like a hawk for two straight days, waiting for the moment I could call up the company once more and get everything sorted out.

That moment came tonight, and guess who I got to speak to?

The Fraudulent Charge Investigation Team!

Isn't that wonderfully dramatic?

The team member asked me all sorts of questions.

"Do you suspect anyone of using your card?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

God, was I sure? He was making me nervous.

"Yes, I am sure."

Especially since the charge had been made thousands of miles away, and none of my acquaintances had visited the west coast over the weekend.

After a very thorough examination, he concluded I had indeed been a victim of online fraud and vowed to get on my case.

Whew.

My advice for all credit card users out there?

Sign up for fraudulent alerts from your credit card company. I was able to stop my credit card crook immediately because of the alerts I had signed up for, and I'm glad I didn't discover what was happening weeks after the fraudulent activity.

Oh my God, that's so terrible! I'm so sorry to hear that, Jenna, but I'm also happy to know that everything has been handled in your favor! This is a terrible thing to happen, and I really hope it'l never happen to you again!

Oh man, I'm so sorry, this is the worst! Our cards have been compromised several times over the past couple years and it's such a bummer! We have fraud alerts up the yin yang, but unfortunately all it does is let us know right away when something happens... we still have to deal with the fallout which is such a time suck. I hope you get your situation dealt with quickly!